So not sure if this is the appropriate place for this but I figured what the hell. I'll cut right to it: I was wondering if anyone would be interested in starting a virtual writer's group (if not no harm no fowl). We could use slack to post work and comment and critique, maybe try to get a new piece every two weeks or so? Full disclaimer I've never been part of a writing group nor have I ever used slack but I'm 100% willing to try and helm this if we get at least a few people interested and you can work with me while we figure out the kinks.

My contest history (if anyone cares) is an HM, an R, and then Q2 of this year which I haven't heard on yet. Anyways, let me know if you're interested and if we get a few people, I'm thinking at least 4? Then I'll set it up.

Slack isn't all that great. As messed up as the new Yahoo Groups is you're better bet would be to start a closed Yahoo Group, where only members can see what is there.

If you were closer I'd invite you to my local Writer's Group. We've been going since 2004 and everyone that has been a member at least more than a year has a publication credit.

We got started when Dawn, looking through Critters' data base contacted a bunch of us about a face to face group. 12 years later we're still here. If you don't have local group where you meet up, you might want to try something similar in your area.

I know I prefer face to face groups over online ones. Get a lot more out of it actually talking with each other.

There was a small writers group several years ago, that one of the Finalists invited me and a few others from this Forum to. He invited people who'd showed commitment to their writer careers, usually with long histories with WOTF or other venues. We fizzled out after 5-6 years when most of us either won WOTF or pro'd out, or at least had some semi-pro sales.

The group was very helpful in our early days, but not as much later as some reached pro levels. We still remain friends, but the writers group has served its purpose.

It's been a year since this topic had any activity and in that time Slack has really taken off in stability, complexity, and usefulness.

Going back to the original idea, would folks be interested in getting a community Slack channel up and running? I have some pretty high level Slack organizers I can ping if we need assistance in setting up as well (one of my friends/ex-employees/peer runs a Mac SysAdmin Slack with 10,000 members, 1,000 of which are active at any given moment).

If there is interest, let me know and I'll set up and channel and invite folks to get started.

J'nae Rae wrote:Would Slack really work for that? How would we share the MSes?

There is an embedded attachment option that works okay. However, there are Dropbox and Google Docs plugins that can be used in conjunction with Slack now. Those will probably come in handy more than the drag and drop methodology.

Okay. I've put together the Slack channel. I'm still adding in components and such, but it's available to sign up now.

If you'd like to join the channel, click the link below, add your email, setup an account, and login:TwitchWriters Slack Sign UpNOTE: This link will only work until August 13, 2017. If you'd like an invite at that point, PM me and I can send an invite.

One common misconception is that you can only use Slack through their website or via a specific app. There are apps for every platform out there, including desktop apps. I'd highly suggest using one of those since file exchanges and the like seem to work a little better. This download link should direct you to the appropriate download location for whatever platform you're currently on:Slack Downloads

Once a couple folks sign up, I'll start elevating people who'd like the ability to invite others directly.

Create new Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets directly from Slack by clicking the “+” button to the left of the Slack message box.Import an existing file from Google Drive directly where you’re already working by clicking the “+” button. Or, paste the link to the file in any channel or Direct Message.

Find your files quickly, even if you don’t remember their name, by searching directly in Slack. Slack automatically indexes the contents of any Google Drive file you share so you can find when you need it.

Share and manage your files without headaches of worrying about version history or who has access.

Do we have to use Google Docs? Have they removed the 'we own a % of what you create with it' clause from the Terms of Service? I have a fully functional copy of Word, and I reluctantly put things on Dropbox as it is, as I don't like Cloud storage at all.

J'nae Rae wrote:Do we have to use Google Docs? Have they removed the 'we own a % of what you create with it' clause from the Terms of Service? I have a fully functional copy of Word, and I reluctantly put things on Dropbox as it is, as I don't like Cloud storage at all.

You don't need to use Google Docs, no. I also installed a bit to integrate with Dropbox, however, you can just share a doc directly. Nothing will stop you from doing that.

It wasn't their cloud I was concerned with on that, it was there word processor. Though it does seem they have changed it. Everyone seems to say not to use Google Docs on the answer sites. When looking further, it seems though it looks OK it has formatting errors and can't handle more than 100 pages without having issues, and that person said ultimately to get rid of all errors they had to keep under 50 pages.

Posting direct files works for me. Though I might use my Dropbox for this, and just not leave the files in when done.

We got this started a few weeks ago and are looking for a couple more folks if they're interested. Here's the schedule thus far:

* Biweekly Meetings (Week 1 = submissions to the group, Week 2 = critiques)* Critiques are every other Saturday at 3PM EST using Google Hangouts** The next critique is August 12, 2017* There is a soft limit of 3,000 words per critique at this point* We use Slack for general communication and off-topic discussions.